Well, it’s here. More than a decade since the launch of Grand Theft Auto 5, the first GTA 6 trailer has finally landed, providing an official look at Rockstar’s upcoming opus, as well as new protagonist Lucia and the return – or rather, reimagining – of Vice City. We’ve seen alligators, robberies, rooftop parties, and some beautiful vistas of the state of Leonida. But the first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer is also hiding a fascinating, secret clue about how Vice City will function from a gameplay perspective, and also the story behind Lucia herself.
The GTA 6 release date is coming in 2025, and given the reception to the trailer so far, this could be the biggest sandbox game – if not the biggest game, period – of all time. We know where Grand Theft Auto 6 is set. We know it’s going to center on two protagonists, Lucia and her boyfriend, and, judging from the trailer, it seems the focus will be on low-end robberies and street crime – at least initially.
Vibrant and modern, the new Vice City looks like the perfect successor to Grand Theft Auto 5’s Los Santos. But how much of the city will you be able to access, and how will Rockstar gradually unfurl it as you explore? The first GTA 6 trailer – or at least, the reveal of the trailer – seems to hide the answer.
Following the trailer’s launch, Rockstar shares a new clip of concept art depicting Lucia sitting on the hood of a car…
If you zoom in and squint your eyes a little, you can see that, around her right ankle, Lucia is wearing what looks like an electronic monitor. Remember at the start of the trailer, we see Lucia being interviewed in prison.
Potentially, GTA 6 opens with Lucia being released and fitted with the ankle tag, and that’s how the game initially limits your movement around Vice City and Leonida – like when you try to go to Blackwater and New Austin in Red Dead Redemption 2, if you stray too far out of a certain zone, your wanted level jumps up and you’re forced back.
It’s a smart way of keeping certain parts of the city locked off, and breadcrumbing our exploration. In Grand Theft Auto 3, the bridge to Staunton Island was blown up by the Columbian Cartel. In Vice City, tropical storms shut down all the transport.
San Andreas didn’t really give us an explanation – but I like the one in GTA 4, where the new ‘Jingoism Act’ and fears about terrorism mean the police have shut all the highways. Nevertheless, it seems like Rockstar has found a new, inventive reason to stagger progress in GTA 6.
Well, now we wait. Get the best GTA 5 mods to keep Los Santos feeling new, before you zip off to Vice City. Alternatively, the best GTA RP servers turn the sandbox game into, well, anything you can imagine.
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